Best & Worst Fro-yo Shops of 2008: Where Are They Now?

Fro-yo girl here. Back in 2008, I named the best and worst fro-yo shops in the Bay Area. Ever wonder what happened to those businesses?

Of the 7 worst shops, all 7 have closed. The places with below average fro-yo have usually stayed open two years or less. Even large chains haven’t been able to make it in the Bay Area (e.g., Golden Spoon). There are plenty of average frozen yogurt shops. The worst ones had fro-yo with horrible texture and flavor.The toppings were often stale or rotten as well.

Of the 10 best shops in 2008, 5 are still open, though a few of those have moved (e.g., Harmony Yogurt, Tuttimelon) or changed ownership. Poco Cafe closed after being open for years because the owner decided to retire. The best frozen yogurt shops offered consistency, cleanliness, freshness and superior customer service. You could tell that the owners cared about offering quality frozen yogurt.

Out of curiosity I looked at my old frozen yogurt reviews, the first 300 frozen yogurt shops that I reviewed. These reviews were written between December 2007 and 2010. Of the 9 shops with a 1 star rating, all have closed. Of the five star shops, 50% are still open.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Fro-yo and Pearl Tea

Fro-yo girl here. Recently, I posed the following question: “You're in the mood for fro-yo but there isn't any around. What do you have instead?”

The options included ice cream and gelato (which are the most similar to fro-yo), baked goods (cake, cupcakes, cookies), Asian desserts (egg puffs, boba tea) and a healthier option (smoothies). Surprisingly, boba tea was the overwhelming favorite substitute for fro-yo, capturing 58% of the votes. Gelato was a distant third with 17% of the votes. The cold desserts/snacks were more popular with readers.

At first I thought that most of my readers are Asian (and that could be true) but then why aren’t egg puffs more popular? Boba/pearl tea isn’t healthy but it is refreshing (like fro-yo). I’ve certainly seen the crowd move from Quickly on Irving St. to Tuttimelon (which prompted Quickly to come up with their own fro-yo). I’m still not sure to what extent the results are based on the Asianness of voters.

I’ve compiled a list of Bay Area shops that offer both fro-yo and boba/pearl tea. Maybe someone should create milk tea flavored fro-yo? I’ve seen (and tried) milk tea gelato.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* HELLO DESSERTS: 1698 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131
* HONEYBERRY: 3488 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95052
* LOVE BERRY: Winston Way (Stonestown Galleria), San Francisco, CA 94132
* POCO CAFÉ: 1688 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA 95131
* ROCK IT SWIRL: 2810 Diamond St, San Francisco, CA 94014
* TRENDY BEAN CAFÉ: 1054 Kiely Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95051
* TUTTIMELON: 601 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133
* YUMYGURT: 650 Central Ave Ste G, Alameda, CA 94501
* YOLATEA: 600 Main St #F, Pleasanton, CA 94566

Mix-In Fro-Yo

Fro-yo girl here. Though uncommon, some fro-yo shops have a special mixing machine that creates mix-in fro-yo. Think Dairy Queen Blizzard only with plain fro-yo instead of ice cream and frozen fruit instead of candy bits. The mixing machine is considerably cheaper than the soft serve machines most fro-yo shops have and the mix in method results in a different texture and taste. Using frozen fruit adds a pleasant icy quality to the thicker, chunkier and softer mix-in yogurt while using whole fruit can also add texture (e.g., seeds, larger pieces of fruit).

These are the four places to get mix-in fro-yo in the Bay Area:

Poco Café: 1688 Hostetter Rd, San Jose, CA
My favorite mix-in fro-yo and also the best value, choose from a wide variety of fruit flavors. The end result is chunkier than other places. Some of the plain frozen yogurt base didn’t get mixed in with the fruit but I think that added to the homemade charm.

Yogen Fruz: 3 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA
Called Blend It, you get to select up to two types of frozen fruit and the base (non-fat vanilla, low-fat vanilla, non-fat/sugar-free vanilla or chocolate). It’s the smoothest of the mix-in fro-yos with a more pronounced flavor of the base yogurt. It’s the only place that provides multiple choices for the yogurt base.

Tartini: 20488 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA
Tartini Twister has a creamy vanilla fro-yo base and comes with your choice of frozen fruit.

Sweet Retreat: 6061 Cahalan Ave, San Jose, CA (and other locations in San Jose, Morgan Hill and Los Gatos)
The mix in yogurt is called the “create your own yogurt” option. It starts with their plain fro-yo base. Unlike the other shops, you can add candy and/or frozen fruit to the mix-in yogurt.

Note, Penguino’s in the Metreon (SF) also has a create your own flavor, mix-in fro-yo. I refuse to try it though, because their soft-serve fro-yo is horrible.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Top 10 Bay Area Fro-Yo Shops

Fro-yo girl here. Now that I’ve tried over 100 fro-yo shops, I’m often asked for recommendations. These are my top 10 Bay Area fro-yo shops:
· Culture Organic Frozen Yogurt (Palo Alto) – creamy & thick in texture, tastes natural with less sugar to mask that fro-yo flavor, organic fro-yo made from Straus and unique housemade toppings like brownies, chocolate meringues and seasonal granola - my cup of Culture yogurt is pictured above
· Café Delatti (Los Gatos) – every tart flavor tastes great, especially the mango tart, dense & creamy texture
· YoCup (Rincon Center, SF) – the most balanced fro-yo I’ve encountered in terms of flavor, texture, everything
· Tuttimelon (Irving St, SF) – extra sour and the best bargain in town, a small original is still 99 cents and they pack on the toppings like no other place I know of
· Caffe Ambrosia (SF) – natural and clean tasting plain tart, icy, soft and smooth
· Red Mango (Palo Alto) – not as tart as the others on the list but with a sophisticated subtle tang and an ultra creamy texture
· Harmony Yogurt (San Carlos) – dense and smooth, made with organic Straus Creamery yogurt, almost gelato like in consistency
· Yogurt Harmony (Berkeley) – rich, heavy and dense, four delicious tart flavors a day
· Yumi Yogurt (Redwood City) – best place for sweet fro-yo with the largest portions
· Poco Café (San Jose) – best place for mix-in yogurt, plain yogurt mixed with your choice of frozen fruit, chunky & tart

None of the self-serve shops made the cut. I’ve found higher quality, better tasting fro-yo at the non-self serve fro-yo shops.

I’m also asked how one person can eat so much fro-yo and not get sick of it. I can’t answer that question yet.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.